Dallas dining has no shortage of chef collaborations, pop-ups, and one-night-only dinners, but Meridian’s new Chef Collective series is poised to stand out among them. The modern neighborhood restaurant at The Village Dallas, led by executive chef Eduardo Osorio, is launching an ongoing dinner series that will bring together some of the city’s most respected chefs—along with a handful of national and international culinary talents—for a rotating lineup of collaborative dinners, industry nights, and tasting-menu experiences.
Rather than building the series around celebrity appeal, Osorio is positioning Chef Collective as something more personal: an extension of the creative community he’s built throughout his years working in Dallas kitchens. Each dinner will take on a different identity, ranging from laid-back, cocktail-driven evenings to more refined multi-course tastings, while still reflecting Meridian’s ingredient-focused, hearth-driven style of cooking.
“This series is about cooking with people I genuinely admire and creating experiences that feel personal to all of us,” said Osorio in a press release. “Over the last few years, I’ve built incredible relationships in Dallas, and Meridian finally gives us a place to bring those collaborations to life in a way that feels fun, creative and welcoming for guests.”
The series launches today (Monday, May 18) with a Bar & Bites Industry Night alongside chef Peja Krstic of Pillar and Mot Hai Ba, plus Pillar mixologist Julian Shaffer. Instead of a formal tasting menu, the evening will lean into a more relaxed format with seven à la carte appetizers, cocktails, and beats provider by a local DJ.
Later this month, Meridian will shift gears when Lucia chef David Uygur joins Osorio for a collaborative tasting dinner on Sunday, May 31. The dinner, priced at $185 per guest, will blend Uygur’s Italian-influenced cooking with Meridian’s live-fire approach, while also serving as a fundraiser for Meat Fight, the Dallas nonprofit supporting people living with multiple sclerosis. Twenty percent of proceeds from the evening will be donated back to the organization, which also happens to be where Osorio and Uygur first connected.
Additional dinners scheduled through September suggest the series won’t settle into a single format. Upcoming collaborations include a Latin wood-fire dinner with chef AQ Pittman of Oh Hi! Hospitality, a California-inspired tasting with Sushi Kozy chef RJ Yoakum, a tea-service-style menu from Mirador chef Travis Wyatt, and a Vietnamese-influenced live-fire dinner from Shua chefs Joshua Zacharias and Brenda Perez.
One of the most notable additions arrives in September, when Belgian chef Benoit Dewitte— whose restaurant has held a Michelin star since 2012—joins the lineup for a $185 tasting menu.
“What I love most is that no two dinners are going to look the same,” added Osorio. “Some will feel loud and energetic, others more intimate and refined, but every chef is bringing their own perspective into the kitchen. That keeps it exciting for us creatively and gives guests a reason to keep coming back.”
For Meridian, the series arrives at a moment when Dallas diners are increasingly seeking experiences that feel collaborative—dinners with a sense of personality, spontaneity and community behind them. In a dining culture often driven by openings and hype cycles, Chef Collective instead leans into something more enduring: the relationships between chefs, and the audiences eager to follow them from one kitchen to the next.
Meridian, 5650 Village Glen Dr., Dallas meridiantherestaurant.com
